Rage Against The Machine

Rage Against The Machine may not be the first band to combine
metal with rap vocals, and they certainly aren't the only such band,
but they are undeniably one of the most well-known.
Driven by fiercely political lyrics, their debut album came out
of nowhere to take the world by storm, with the band seemingly
disappearing almost as fast.
Rumored to have broken up at various times, the even more successful
follow-up, Evil Empire, was finally released four years later,
followed by The Battle Of Los Angeles in 1999.

In the fall of 2000, vocalist Zach De La Rocha left the group,
citing a breakdown of communication amongst the band members.
As the focal point of the group, this naturally left the status
of the band in question for some time, though the other three had
committed to continuing.
Those three eventually
teamed up with ex-Soundgarden
vocalist Chris Cornell in
Audioslave.